Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Creating words with pictures...


I finally unearthed this sketch I did of 'penelope's patchwork quilt'. It was my 'working sketch' to a story which I was writing for the course which I was doing in 2001... Some of you may remember me writing about it back in early August....

"A few years ago I wrote a draft for short story about a quilt and lately it has been on my mind that I would like to have another look at it and revise it. It was centred around a small girl as she watched family members constructing a quilt. Each of the family members tell a story about the patch that they are adding to the quilt. At the time I wrote it I knew very little about quilt constuction and because I was writing it for a child I wanted to keep it was simple as I could... LOL - not that I know very much more about quilt constuction now however I can see where I might be able to 'embellish' the story more fully... Stay tuned as I may need some technical advice..."

To help me 'construct' peneople's fairy quilt using words I drew a very quick sketch to assist with the proccess - I then used this sketch as my 'roadmap'. Looking at it now and listening/reading the comments on visual journals I can see - without even really knowing it - how the sketching process helped me.

An old friend who at times has the wisest thoughts, suggested to me if I got what was 'buzzing' around in my mind - like a bee buzzing against a window pane - out into the open and down onto paper it would then (i) stop the constant 'noise' (ii) give me a chance to look at it more clearly (iii) take some action. My friend went onto say that unless I could do that from time to time I would 'constipate' the flow thereby allowing nothing to pass and again, achieving nothing... At the time it was said I did laugh, but experience and time has seen me reflecting on the truth of those words...


2 comments:

Dawn said...

I think your friend is indeed very wise Sharlee. The constant 'noise' syndrome happens to me too . . . . especially when I'm doing something physical like vacumning or driving. Getting it down quickly on paper before it leaves is the tricky part. A poem started to form in my head one day while driving. Fortunately Heather was with me and she got out a pen and pad to take my dictation while on the road. In less than ten minutes that poem was on paper and the 'noise' ceased. It was nice having a private secretary handy; otherwise I would have had to pull off to the side of the road for a while. :-)

Sharon said...

Thanks Dawn for you sharing your experience... I do believe that especially creative ppl - what ever form that might take - do have the of danger 'overload'... Again going back to viual journals I think that is why that process is so good - it allows the mind to empty and it also allows for the next creative bit to start... One of the tutors at my course (writing) used to encourage us to take a notepad with us where ever we went... The reasons being (i)it was good to record impressions of what was going on around us,snippets of overheard conversations, etc... She suggested that if we couldn't write it the next best thing was to sketch it no matter how simple or rough it was - it would be a record of that particular image etc... This really worked wonders to get the creative juices flowing...